Medicinal and aromatic plants have been used since antiquity for various medicinal purposes.Their use continues undiminished since ancient times.Most of the world population depends on plant-based medicinal preparation for health care purposes.Plants contain various biologically active compounds.These compounds and their derivatives are being used in the pharmaceutical industry.They contain a vast reservoir of bioactive constituents that are still unexplored for medicinal properties.The demand for plant-based medicinal products and ayurvedic medicines is increasing day by day as these herbal medicines do not have side effects while every synthetic medicine comes with some side effects.So, plantderived products are potential candidates to be new-generation medicinal products.
Background: The member of the genus Alpinia (family: Zingiberaceae) is used in traditional medicine for various formulations for the food, spices, medicines, and perfume. Objective: The present study was carried out to analyse the compositional variability in leaf and rhizome essential oils of Alpinia calcarata Roscoe and Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.) B.L. Burtt & R.M. Sm. and to evaluate their antimicrobial activity against eight pathogenic bacteria strains. Methods: The essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC and GC-MS and the antibacterial activity was evaluated by filter paper disc diffusion and micro dilution broth assay. Results: A total of 31 compounds identified, forming 89.26-94.32% composition of A. calcarata and A. zerumbet. The leaf and rhizome oil of A. calcarata and A. zerumbet were mainly characterized by 1,8-cineole (15.61-43.63%), β-pinene (5.02-23.52%), terpinen-4-ol (1.00-20.87%), camphor (1.94-11.60%), and (Z)-β-ocimene (0.16-11.86%). endo-Fenchyl acetate (13.12-24.39%) was identified as marker constituents of rhizome essential oil of both A. calcarata and A. zerumbet. The antibacterial assay showed that leaf oil of A. calcarata has good activity against S. mutans, whereas its rhizome oil possess good activity against K. pneumoniae, E. coli, S. aureus, and S. epidermidis. However, the rhizome oil of A. zerumbet showed activity against S. mutans, B. subtilisS. aureus-2940 and S. epidermidis. Conclusion: The essential oils of A. calcarata and A. zerumbet with aroma chemicals viz. 1,8-cineole, ocimenes, terpinen-4-ol, α-pinene, β-pinenes and fenchyl acetate and significant antibacterial activities could be used for perfumery and fragrance related formulation.
Background: Medicinal plants are considered a rich source of ingredients, which can be used in drug development and synthesis. Tinospora cordifolia (Wild.) Hook.f. & Thomson, commonly known as guduchi, heart-leaved moonseed and giloya is a herbaceous vine of the family Menispermaceae, has several beneficial properties including antioxidant activity. Aim: The present study was carried out to analyze the antioxidant activity of leaf and stem extracts of Tinospora cordifolia by using DPPH (1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS (2,2´-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) free radical scavenging assays. Materials and Methods: Dried and powdered leaves and stem of T. cordifolia were extracted with methanol. Ascorbic acid was taken as standard. Total phenolic content was estimated by using Folin-ciocalteu's reagent while total flavonoid content by aluminium chloride reagent to find the correlation of polyphenols with antioxidant activity. ABTS assay of methanolic leaf and stem extracts showed the highest scavenging activity as compared to the DPPH assay. Results: Methanolic stem extract showed higher phenolic and flavonoid content along with antioxidant activity as compared to the methanolic leaf extract. Conclusion: The stem extract exhibited more antioxidant activity than the leaf extract with regards to the all parameters analyzed.
Background: The study on drying and its social acceptance has increased rapidly. Among different drying techniques, shade drying is one of the most feasible methods to keep intact from the decay of the main active components of the plant materials. Shade drying is an ancient drying method that increases durability, major constituents and activity of the plant material. Aims: Research was conducted to examine the drying potential of aromatic leaves oil of Zanthoxylum armatum DC. Methods: The fresh plant material was collected from Lohaghat, Champawat district of Uttarakhand and hydrodistilled before and after shade drying to assess the changes in the quality of volatile constituents by GC and GC-MS techniques. A two-tailed paired t-test was executed to assess the difference between drying treatments using MS-Excel. Results: The major components in the fresh oil were 2-undecane, linalool, (E)-β-ocimene, α-pinene and β-phellandrene. In the oil from dried material, the three predominant compounds were noted. A significant increase was observed in the percentage of β-phellandrene, undecanal and myrcene after shade drying (p<0.01). Five components absent in the fresh plant material appeared and one disappeared during the drying process. Conclusion: Shade drying significantly influenced the essential oil composition of Z. armatum.
Background: The genus Achillea is one of the most important genus of the Asteraceae family and many species of Achillea are used in traditional medicine to treat several ailments. Aim: The aim of the current research was to evaluate in vitro cytotoxic activities of n-hexan, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts and to isolate the active compounds from the extract showing the strongest cytotoxic activity. In addition to this, it was aimed to evaluate the biological activities (cytotoxic, antioxidant, anti-urease, anticholinesterase, antimicrobial) of different extracts and active compounds from Achillea monocephala. Methods and Materials: The in vitro antioxidant, cytotoxic, anti-urease, anticholinesterase and antimicrobial activities of different extracts from A. monocephala aerial parts were examined. The structures of the active compounds were determined by NMR techniques, UV, IR and LC-MS/MS analysis and their biological potential was examined. Results: The chloroform extract showed strong and selective cytotoxic activity on the cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231, MCF-7). Besides, this extract exhibited stronger antimicrobial activity than other extracts. Therefore, through activity-guided procedures, luteolin, naringenin and 8-hydroxy-salvigenin compounds were isolated from this extract. The methanol extract showed stronger antioxidant (DPPH, ABTS, CUPRAC) and anticholinesterase activity than other extracts. The n-hexan extract exhibited the highest anti-urease activity. In this study, it was determined that the isolated compounds had a strong biological activity. Naringenin compound had stronger ABTS radical cation scavenging and ferric reducing/antioxidant power, cytotoxic and antimicrobial activity than other compounds. 8-hydroxy-salvigenin compound showed the highest urease and acetylcholinestease enzyme inhibition. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the extracts and isolated compounds from the A. monocephala may be used as antioxidant, cytotoxic, anti-urease, anticholinesterase and antimicrobial agents in the future.
